Posts tagged BenWallace at FanHouse

Mike D'Antoni's vaunted offense favors fast, athletic big men who can get up and down the court in a hurry and play above the rim (see: Marion, Shawn; and Stoudemire, Amare) -- in other words, players that are the exact opposite of Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry.

Mike Brown's (lamentable) offense is, well, barely existent. Despite featuring the most exciting player in the game (see: James, LeBron), the Cavs play at an absolute snail's pace, and last year failed to score as many points as they gave up over the course of the entire season.

Do you see a potential match? The internet does: one day after Bob Finnan of the Morning Journal cryptically suggested that "the Cavs could be talking to the Knicks about a big man," Bill Ingram of HOOPSWORLD and Alan Hahn of Newsday followed up by brainstorming trades sending Randolph to the Cavs.

Breaking into the athletic shoe industry cannot be easy, even if you're already a monster book and miscellaneous sales website like Amazon (dot com).

Combine the dangers (and barriers -- Econ 205, yeah!) of a new market with the highly combustable prospect of doing anything with Stephon Marbury and we have what could become a must-briefly-watch legal and marketing situation. From Darren Rovell:

The New York Post reported this morning that New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, who popularized low cost basketball shoes with his "Starbury" brand at retailer Steve & Barry's, spent Wednesday in Seattle signing a deal with Amazon to sell the sneakers on their web site.

Although Steve & Barry's filed for bankruptcy reorganization on that very same day, and it appears like part of the plan is to close stores, sources tell me that Marbury's contract is still active. That makes me wonder how he'd have the authority to sign this deal.

And while Marbury appears to own the right to the name "Starbury," it's unclear if he owns the logo. It's also not clear at this point who would be making the shoe for Amazon.com.Marbury's marketing representatives at The Agency didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Steve and Barry's is going under regardless, but as Rovell points out, there are plenty of larger companies out there debating on purchasing them. Marbury -- who didn't sell his shoes online -- bouncing elsewhere would put a pretty serious dent in their value.

Laugh all you want -- Marbury, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Ben Wallace and Bubba Watson, is one of S & B's biggest marketing angles. And despite his on court failures, his cheap as all get out Starbury shoe was still immensely popular. I'd expect Steve (and maybe Barry too) to have a little something to say about this Amazon deal.

While the reigning MVP is busy trumpeting his way to the finals and Chris Paul at least able to be satisfied with the progress made this season, the Cavaliers are looking at how to improve their team. And by "improve their team" I mean, "do whatever in God's name it will take to convince LeBron James not to go to New York and abandon them to a cold and lonely legacy of abject failure after being granted one of the greatest draft picks ever." You know. In so many words.

So if you're going to go out and get an upgrade for LeBron, and it's pretty evident that it needs to be scoring. So who's available?

Survey says: Michael Redd.

In an article in the Akron Beacon Journal, Pat McManamon writes that there is a "lot of talk about acquiring Michael Redd from the Milwaukee Bucks" for the Cavs. Redd's got a big contract on a rebuilding squad, and it's been proven that he can't be the guy to get the Bucks where they need to go. Putting him on the Cavs for the 19th pick and trigger-happy Wally Szczerbiak plus parts may be the way to make it happen.

There is nothing more exciting in sports than a Game 7. Expect perhaps finding out that both Mike Brown and Doc Rviers have been kidnapped before this game and that there will actually be some offense. Since that is unlikely to happen -- and certainly not endorsed to happen by anyone here -- we'll have to settle for seeing whether LeBron James can have his best game of this series on the biggest stage.

He has slowly been stepping his game up after abysmal Games one and two, possibly in the pretense of going off during the Eastern Conference Finals and trudging the Cavs back into the Finals. But first things first -- the Celtics are staring at most scrutiny they have faced in years, without a road playoff win and with another Game 7 against a team they should have closed out already, if they were anything like the Boston team of the regular season.

Live Blog begins here at 3:30, or shortly before.

I was a wedding on Saturday night and our group of friends kept sneaking checks of the score, all the while saying "The King is going HUGE!". When we saw the box score after the game, needless to say, we were pretty shocked. What does that say about the Celtics in general? Probably not good things. But you can believe that Kevin Garnett is going to have this crew fired up to get some revenge after being embarrassed in Cleveland during Game 3.

Hopefully, it won't turnout to be a blowout. But with my record (0-4, scoring at home, etc) and the way this series has been going, the odds aren't great on that. Still, we're gonna live blog it, beginning at 8:00 pm. We would kick it off earlier, but with the Law and Order rerun special, there's no reason to get things going officially until then. Looking forward to yet another stupendous evening of commentating and NBA basketball.

You may recall Ben Wallace leaving Game 2 of the Celtics-Cavs series because of allergies. It was thought at the time that the Celtics' ridiculous pyrotechnic display during the announcement of the starting lineups was to blame (and for all we know, it might have been), but whatever it was that caused the flare up is probably going to keep Big Ben out of Game 3.

Wallace started but played less than 4 minutes in Thursday night's game before he became dizzy and asked to come out. He staggered to the bench and had to be assisted by his teammates before the Cavs' training staff stepped in.

Wallace underwent a series of tests at the Cleveland Clinic on Friday. The team said the defensive stopper could be upgraded but it was "best case, 50-50" that Wallace would play Saturday in Game 3.

If Wallace can't go, Mike Brown is expected to start Anderson Varejao in his place. But with Big Ben out of the lineup, that will in all likelihood lead to more minutes for Joe Smith. That could be a welcome boost to the Cavaliers' anemic offense in this series, just as long as his teammates are aware that he's not exactly capable of handling Kevin Garnett by himself defensively.

The Boston Celtics have an impressive fireworks display before each home game, but as you can see on the right, it unfortunately (and predictably) leaves a heavy fog over the court for much of the first quarter. Eventually the smoke rises to the rafters, but it couldn't happen soon enough for Ben Wallace last night, who left the game with allergies apparently aggravated by the smoke:

"You know it's a tough place for allergies, but no one has warned me," Wallace said. "That's when it started - headaches. Then it got worse. I got lightheaded and my head started spinning."

Wallace, the team's third-leading rebounder, left the game in the first quarter with what was originally called "dizziness" and never returned. He said he expects to play Game 3 in Cleveland on Saturday night.

"I got lightheaded," he said. "There was smoke in the first quarter. You can't play basketball with your head spinning like that."

If the Celtics can't improve the ventilation, it's probably time they tweak their pre-game show. Plenty of teams incorporate pyrotechnics into their introductions without making the game feel like it's being played in the back of a smoky bar. It's annoying enough to watch a game on TV though the fog, so having a player actually forced out as a result of it should be the final straw.

There's no question that Game 1 of the Cavaliers-Celtics series was painful to watch. I mean, how many times will you see LeBron James, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen combine for just 16 points in an entire game? The only one that was on last night was Kevin Garnett (28 points), but that was mainly due to Cleveland's bad defense, especially on the last couple of possessions. Take a look at the last two times KG scored -- first to tie the game then to give his team the lead -- and then we'll discuss.

On the first play, that was definitely a nice, clutch 20-footer from Garnett. But why in the world did Joe Smith stay and double Ray Allen off of the pick and roll, when Ray hadn't scored a single point all night? Wouldn't it have made more sense to let Allen go, and get back on KG? Now LeBron started to rotate over, but decided he didn't want to leave Pierce alone at the three-point line, which is understandable. I just don't get the decision to leave the one guy who has been scoring consistently all night, just to double someone who's gone scoreless to that point in the game.

I think that we, generally speaking for basketball fans, don't believe that the Cavs can beat the Celtics. Which is weird, because Cleveland has LeBron James. And the Celtics just squeaked by the Hawks. Or maybe we don't think that. But Las Vegas -- who is generally fairly close to the public opinion -- sure does, staking the Celtics a whopping 9.5 points tonight (BoDog).

I find this odd. LeBron went off on the Celtics throughout the regular season, averaging 32.3 points, 9.7 assists and 7.0 rebounds. Of course, you could probably argue that LeBron went off against everyone. You could also argue that when LeBron averages 41% from the floor, not only is he trying to hard but he's not being efficient and that could lead to blowouts by Boston. Then you could go on to point out that I'm running the live blog, so a blow out is already a mortal lock (0-3 on close games if you're scoring at home.)

Still, we're talking about the best player in the Eastern Conference and the future of basketball against three old dudes trying to get some rings in the EC Semis. Besides, the worst case is you just swing by and type "BOOBIE" a bunch of times.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Cavaliers-Wizards game tonight.

1. The Agent Elephant In The Room: I understand folks not wanting to talk about it. But, we're going to talk about it. Two Washington wins? 10 minutes and 2 points combined for Gilbert Arenas. Three losses? Close to 85 minutes for Agent Zero. On the surface, it makes pretty simple sense. Injured player, can't effectively perform, drags down the team. However, it's more than that. The Wizards seem to revel in being without their star. Caron Butler was spectacular in Gilbert's first night back ... out. They seem more cohesive, and more importantly, they're winning more often. Even Zero admitted they're better without him right now. This series had the distinct look of a mismatch after Game 4, and all of a sudden, losing their "best" player may end up being exactly what the Wizards need to get over the hump.

2. Oh, THERE's The Wally I Know And Love: Wally Szczerbiak was apparently walking into Quicken Loans Arena when he passed a vehicle. And in the window of this vehicle, he saw a dreadful sight. Himself. And then he remember who he is. And promptly shot 1 of 6 from the field. Szczerbiak is undeniably the inconsistent thread that leavs the Cavaliers hanging in the wind. Sometimes he snaps, sometimes he holds. So you could say that if you want to destroy the Cavaliers, just hold this Wally while you walk away (while you walk away). The Cavs need supporting three-point shooting to win, unless LeBron has one of, you know, those nights.